The Tourism Ministry has brought an Israeli chef to boost tourism from France by cooking up home-grown foods at the four-day Top Resa professional tourism fair in France next Tuesday.
Michael Katz from Jerusalem, the main chef of the restaurant group “Adom,” will present various Israeli goods, such as citrus fruits and dried fruits, tahina, date honey and olive oil to introduce Israeli culinary and present Israel as an attractive and eclectic destination.
More than 27,000 tourism professionals are expected to attend the French fair, which hosts 1,200 exhibitors from 160 destinations worldwide. Tourism Ministry officials will meet in Paris with leading tourism wholesalers and airline representatives.
Israel reached record levels of tourism this year, but the figures for August dropped slightly to three percent less than the same month last year.
The Central Bureau of Statistics reported that 2.2 million visitors have entered Israel since the beginning of the year, two percent less than in the same period last year.
“The stability of tourism during this period in time is not to be seen lightly and has been achieved as a result of intensive and targeted activities of the Ministry of Tourism worldwide, in both source countries and developing markets,” according to Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov.
The ministry plans to advertise Israel at several major fairs in the next several months “to send out the message that despite the events in the region, Israel is a safe tourism destination, attractive, eclectic and unique and the experience is unlike any in the world.” the minister added.
The fairs include Poland, Brazil, China, Singapore, Germany and England as well as France.
Meanwhile, more Israelis are touring outside the country. In the first six months of 2011, 2.7 million Israelis flew to foreign destinations, nine percent more than in the same period last year.
The terrorist attacks north of Eilat in the summer did not stop 86,000 Israelis from visiting the Sinai coastal resort areas.